Content:

(PaPa, RoRo, FR, HoHo, B, C, LLL, V, SS, N, AA, DD, MM) Strong pagan, Romantic worldview with antinomian implications and too many comical, but unfunny, lewd innuendoes, drug references, and an ungodly pro-homosexual/leftist/narcissistic subplot, plus very light moral elements such as one character is encouraged to return to drug and alcohol rehab and a brief reference to the Lord’s Prayer, but in a comical context; 21 obscenities, six light exclamatory profanities, one possible “f” word, references to children wetting themselves that includes the words, “Speak it, don’t leak it!,” and comical references in one scene to the novel MOBY DICK; light comical violence such as man accidentally sets fire to a small teepee, man runs from aggressive dog, and hallucinating man with rubber harpoon attacks another man who he thinks is saying mean things about him, and he falls to the ground; strong and light sexual content includes references to two characters’ lesbian proclivities, movie favors people “coming out” as homosexuals to their families, two woman in lingerie in front of man are about to kiss, but camera cuts off before they do in scene that apparently leads to sex, heterosexual couple lives together, woman appears in sexy outfit to her live-in boyfriend, and he spanks her with a ruler, suggestive dancing, suggestive song lyrics in a “soul” music song, and references to large dog implicitly “humping” a man, and another man says he’s now going to have puppies; upper male nudity and implied nudity but nothing explicit; alcohol use and one character is said to be in AA; no smoking but references to a health drink that apparently has marijuana in it and another health drink has psychedelic mushrooms in it, which man unknowingly drinks and hallucinates; and, lying, sneaking around, father bullies family, and family members keep secrets from one another.

Summary:

PEEPLES is an annoying, disappointing comedy about a man trying to propose to his live-in girlfriend while her no-nonsense, judgmental father gives him plenty of grief. PEEPLES contains too many lightly crude or lewd jokes, slightly too much foul language, a couple comical drug references, and a homosexual subplot about two side characters.

Review:

PEEPLES is an annoying, disappointing comedy about a man trying to propose to his live-in girlfriend while her no-nonsense, judgmental father gives him plenty of grief. What might have been a very funny, ultimately heartwarming story becomes an amazingly unfunny waste of talent with too many crude innuendoes and other problematic content.

The movie tells the story of Wade Walker and Grace Peeples, a cohabitating but loving couple with one major problem. After a year together, Grace still hasn’t introduced Wade to her upper-crust family, including her judgmental, no-nonsense father, Virgil, a federal judge.

When Grace decides to visit her family without him one weekend at the family’s ocean-side home, Wade decides to surprise them by traveling there alone. Not only that, but he hopes to propose to Grace in front of them all.

Try as he might, Wade makes a bad impression from the start. Making matters worse, his proposal plans keep getting interrupted by the family’s own dysfunctional relationships. This is a family that has trouble telling the truth to each other. The father secretly enjoys unwinding at night with a group of nudists. The mother secretly uses her garden for healthfood drinks laced with marijuana or psychedelic mushrooms. The son is a secret kleptomaniac who borrows things from the other family members without telling them. The daughter is having a lesbian relationship with her co-worker and “best friend.”

Things go from bad to worse when Wade’s goofy brother arrives to help Wade pop the question. Then, Grace’s mother accuses Wade of stealing some diamond earrings that her son borrowed without telling anyone.

PEEPLES contains jokes about children urinating on themselves, lesbian proclivities, men being “turned on” by lesbian behavior, drugs, accidentally taking a drug, seeing your future father-in-law naked, suggestive dancing, and suggestive song lyrics. Some of these jokes are implied or kept light rather than explicitly shown, so that the movie can retain a PG-13 rating from the six studios running Hollywood. One or two bawdy or slightly inappropriate jokes or innuendoes admittedly can be funny and sometimes even witty, but a bunch of them aren’t really funny, and, ultimately, just become annoying. If they lack any kind of wit or intelligent, they can be deadly.

PEEPLES also has lots of PG-13 foul language. In addition, it clearly views the sister’s eventual coming out as a lesbian a good thing, even though the Bible, God’s Word, thoroughly condemns homosexual behavior as wicked (see Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:24-27).

All this leads up to a strong Romantic, pagan worldview that promotes personal “expression” above morality, feelings above reason and logic, and acceptance and tolerance above judgment and wisdom. One line encourages the mother to go back to rehab, the son is commanded to stop taking things without permission, and the hero’s girlfriend is chastised for trying to hide her love for the hero from her family. However, these rather light positive elements cannot bring PEEPLES back into alignment with biblical principles and values. Media-wise viewers and discerning, more demanding moviegoers will find PEEPLES a waste of cast, a waste of crew, and a waste of time.

In Brief:

PEEPLES is a disappointing comedy about a man trying to propose to his live-in girlfriend while her judgmental father gives him grief. The movie tells the story of Wade Walker and Grace Peeples, a cohabitating, loving couple with one major problem. After a year together, Grace still hasn’t introduced Wade to her upper-crust family, including her judgmental father, a federal judge. When Grace decides to visit her family without him one weekend at the family’s ocean-side home, Wade surprises them by traveling there alone. He wants to propose to Grace in front of them all. Wade’s plans backfire, and Grace’s family, including her brother and lesbian sister, all keep secrets from one another.

PEEPLES contains too many lightly crude or lewd jokes and slightly too much foul language to be really funny. There’s very little wit on display, which might make the jokes and innuendoes less annoying. There are also a couple comical references to drugs. Finally, the movie favors people “coming out” as homosexuals to their families. Media-wise viewers probably will think PEEPLES is a waste of time and excessive.